Printing machine



Jan. 6, 1931 w. E. MOLIN S.

PRINTING MACHINE Filed May 29. 1929 2 ShQQjt'S-Sheet l //vv/v TOR.

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Jan? W. E. MOLINS PRINTING MACHINE 4 Filed May 29, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2'Pat ented Jan. 6. 1931 WALTER EVERETT tro INsor nErrron-n, LoNnoN;ENGLAND" f PRINTING irAonINn Application meta May as, 929, Serial No.sezmaane in Great-Brita'i n. June 21,1928. I

This invention is for improvements in or relating to a method of andmeans-for printing labels and the likeyandhas for its object theprovision of means whereby'multi-colour impressions may be imprinteduponalabel or card at a high speed upon .a machine, of limiteddimensions possessing. the necessary means whereby one colour impressionmay be dried before the material is subjected to the next'printingoperation. s The present invention consists of a multicolour printingmachine wherein successive sheets of paper, cardboard or the like arefed through two or more printing units in such a manner that the speedofmovem'ent of-each sheet between succesive unlts is less than the speedof movement of the sheet through the said units. 1

'The invention will be more particularly described with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which I Fig. 1 shows diagrammatically a fourcolour printing machine constructed. according to this invention.

' the sheetcuttingmechanism. a p

Fig. shows a plan view of a detail of Fig;

Fig.4 shows a detail of Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 shows asection to a largescale of' one printing and stacking unit, together w th the associatedtransfer mechanism."

Fig. 6 shows a sectionalelevationbfapors tion of Fig.- 31in thedirection of :thearrow Referring to Fig, 1, a paper webl is fed from areel 2' rotatably mounted on theframe 3 of themachine, and is arrangedto pass through a device 4 operabletoj remove any curl which may existin the paper; The'pa'p'er is thereafter led through a cleaner composedof two rotary brushes 5 into a cutting mechanism 6 operable to severtheweb intoseparate sheets of the required length. I p e, The sheets aretransferred from the mechanism 6 through the first sprinting unit7, and

each printed sheet is thereafter fedfto the upper end of a stackingdevice '8 which is operable "to convey the same downwardly to the lowerend thereof fromlwhich the sheet Fig. 2 shows 'a section to a largerscaleof be seen that the sheet follows, a staggered I paththroughtheprinting machine. i Y

Thefmachine inay'comprise further printing unitsandstacking devicesandtransferring apparatus similar to'those hereinbefore described,and'the'number of such units,.deviceand apparatus depends upon thenumber of colours to be'p'rinted; but it willbe observed that thesheets. arelnoved in a substantially sinusoidal path through. themachine for the purpose of. ensuring that a s'uflic'i'ent time intervalelapses between each printing operation to enable the" sheet to dry.

Aftera sheethas been printed in the various colours,'the same may betransferred to any desired? cutting. .or embossing apparatus for furthertreatment, I l r Referring: to Fig. 2, which shows in detail into,sheets, the paperwebl is fed beneath a roller 18 and between apair offeed'rollers 14 and-15. Y The rollers Hand 15 feed .the

'web to a cutting I mechanism comprising an upper roller 16 furnished'with a blade 17 and a lower roller. 18iwhich is furnished with a blade18* which co-operates with the blade 17. I The web fromthe rollers-16and 18 is fed tov a further. pair of rollersl9 and 20 which are rotatedat a higher peripheral speedthan the .rollers116 and ,18 in order todraw the cut sheetawaylfr'om the remainder of the web. The mechanism shown at the righthand end of Fig. 2 is provided for the purpose,ofipreventing a ragged endof a web from passing through the machine. '1Thisapparatus comprises a roller 13 mounted up'onan armll8 pivoted at 21and pressed downwardly spring 22; I "A pair ofrollers 23' are mounted on-the lower shaft'a'nd spaced apart as shown in Fig. 3 so that theupperroller can pass down between 'the same when there is no paperpresent Thus, if'theweb of paper hQllld the roller 24'the next face ofthe. cam 27' r break, the roller will be moved downward- I 1y under theaction of the spring 22 as the broken end passes into the machine, and aroller 24 at the opposite end of the arm 13*" will rise and lift thehook shaped piece 25 into the path of thepawl 26.

A cam '27provided with-a series of faces, for example three, is adaptedto oscillate a bell crank lever 28, the free endof which car-' ries thehookshapedpiece 25). Y

When the piece '25'is moved upwardly by will cause the hook to come intocontact with thefpawl 26; The pawl26: is pivoted to a lever 29' (seeFig. '4) which is pivoted to the-bearin'g29 carrying the upper feedroller 14', and the'lever-29 is also fixed to a cam block 3Oprovidediwith twoflats.---

Inthejnormal position the cam block is resting as shownin Fig. 4 on across piece 31 which'is fixed to the frame of'the machine, but when thepawl 26 is operated by the hook 25 the'cam 30a-nd the bearing block arelifted against the action of the roller springs 32 and the cam rotates'With the lever 29 about its-pivots'o that-the other flat face ofthe camblock rests'on' the cros's'pi'ece 3land the upper roller 14 is thereforeheld out of contact with the lower roller.

The above action causesthe feed of the broken end of the web to'c'ease,and-as soon asthe cutting knives have separated this ragged-portion fromthe preceding blank, the

same will drop downwardly between the first two sets'of rollers or'rest"betweenthe said rollers until itis removed-by the operator.

i 5 'By providing the cam 27' with a series of V one-third ofablanklength; V

facesas shown, the rollersil4 are lifted'alrnost immediately a breakagehas occurred a's the faces are spaced apart a distance equalto Itmay'happen that a bro ken 'piece of paper may pass between the'cuttin'grollers owing to the/factthat the same may catchonsome curs;

portion of the V rollers; and when this :occurs,

7 the broken piece isj'deflected'downwardly in" a manner hereinafterdescribed. V

'As'. soon as the web isdrawnthrough the I rollers 13 and23 by theoperatorinlre starting I the machine,"the,roller 13Iis lifted an'd'thepawl25 isjrestored to its former: position'by the operator,,and'therollers 14 and15jcon l i'nue to feed'the web until a fresh break-voc-Therollers 19. and. rotate at a". higher speed than the rollers Y16 and.1 8, and in order to prevent the blank from being torn-the V roller lgis lifted out-of engagement with-the roller 20 whileithelea ding endof'-. t;heblank passes betweenthepair of rollers means of a'cani 32.

When-the roller 19- falls on to thesurface of the blank, thelatt'er isspeedily withdrawn 2 from theleadingedge of the following web tl1epawl41f r V 7 V The same action takes place whenever a V .niovable'gu-ides50.31 V

The-guides- 50:"a re operated-by earns 51 and the blank passes'between apair of guides 33. r

In order toensure that the blank shall be in correct register throughoutthe printing processfthe blanks are fed to'each printing unit by meansof reciprocating arms. In the present instance thearm comprises a'hookshaped member 34 pivotally secured to an arm 35 which is oscillatedagainst the action 4 of spring by a cam 36 mounted upon a 'be shorterthan is required, and in order to deflect this defective blank from' themachine there is mounted in front of therollers 19 and 20 apair'ofrollers 40Wl1l'0l1' are spaced apart on their spindle and beneath themis mounted an oscillating finger 41 which is periodically g raisedby' acam 42 immediately after the moment when the': leading'edge of a blankcomes under the rollers 40.

' If the. blankis shorter-than usual, the leadingedgethereof willfn'otbeat the required position beneath the rollers 40 atthe correct time, andthe oscillatingfinger 41 will prevent it from passing" beneath therollers 19 anol 20 and deflect it downwardly in front of I broken piecepf paper passes between the cutting rollers 1n the manner previously'mentioned. 7

The pawl 41 is-provided with aspring tip on itsgworking end',-andwhen anormal blank is" passing through, the spring will Y give so thatthe doesnot bend'or distort the paper. 'Referringto Fig. 3', the'b1ank afterpassing between the guides 33 is fed between a printing roller '43 andpressure roller 44. I 1 The 'p'rlnting roller comprises an intaglio'engravedi'rollen offthe usual kindan'd is ar- The blank passes from theprinting apparatus to a pairof feed rollers '47 and '48 which 'are inthe formof a pa-ir o'f'thi'n' discs mounted on the spindle as shown;and-arranged so that they contact with theiblank on the unprintedmargins thereof." -Tl'1e blank is moved'from theg'rip-of the'rollersf47' and 48 by acam perated arm 49 andfe'don to the surface of vranged to rotate in abath of ink 45and is furnished'iwith areoiprocatingdoctor blade 46.

through levers 52 (see Fig. 6) so that as the blank runs on to them theyare spaced apart the width of the blank, and as soon as the Ablankreaches the forward guide 53 of the magazine the guides openoutwardly and the blank drops on to the upper surface of the spirals 54.The spirals 54 are rotated by gearing (not shown) and the blank passesdownwardly in the manner shown in Fig. 5 between the guides 53 and arear guide 55.

When the blank reaches the bottom of the spirals the same is lowered onto a pair of guide members 56 and by this time the ink quite dry; i

Apusher piece 57 on a chain conveyor 58 carries the blank partly alongthe guides 56 and the cam operated arm 59'transfers the blank to aprinting unit identical in construction with the one previouslydescribed.

By using the feed arms such is-34 and 59 throughout the machine it ispossible to ensure that one impression is in perfect register f with theprevious printed impression as the and in order to prevent off setwhenevera blank is missing, or the machine is being run empty instarting up, the arrangement shown at the right hand side of Fig. 2maybe duplicated at each printing unit so that until a blank has passedthrough the detector rollers 13 and 23 the upper roller will be heldaway from the lower roller.

The operation of the machine as designed above is unalfected by thecumulative stretch' or shrinkage which occurs in a continuous web bychanging atmospheric conditions or by changing tension in the web. p

Further, the printing rollers may be. of constant diameter, and need notof necessity be of the exact circumferential development required inprinting from the continuous web.

Thus, as the rollers wear they may be r ground and re-engraved, whereaswith print! ing from acontinuous web, the same is not possible. 7

It will be appreciated that the machine can be employed in conjunctionwith sheets previously severed and fed separately tothe first printingunit, and. successive printed sheets may be stacked in piles at theconclu-' sion of the printing operations. 7

Thus it will be seen that according to the present invention there isprovided a ma-' I chine wherein the printed sheets are alternately fedin reverse directions to successive printing units arranged in differentplanes. -What I'claim as my invention and desire to secure by LettersPatent is': y '1-.'In a printingmachine, the combination with aplurality of printing units, of

means for feeding sheets "through said-units fat relatlvely h gh-speed,and means for sup-f porting two opposite edges of eachsheet andconveying the same at a reduced speed from one to'another of saidprinting units.

- '2. In a printing machine, the combination with a plurality ofprinting' units, of means for'feeding sheets through said units atrelati've'ly'high speed, and means for engaging each sheet at spacedpoints adjacent opposite edges thereofforsupporting and conveying thesame at a reduced speed from one to another of said printing units. in

3. In a printingmachine, the combination with a plurality of printingunits, of means for feeding sheets through said units at'relatively highspeed, and means for receiving and conveying said sheets in superposedrelationship and at a reduced speed from one to 2 another of saidprinting units.

A. In a. printing machine, the combination with a. plurality ofprintingunits arranged at substantially. difierent levels, of meansforfeeding sheets through eachunit at relatively high speed, andmeans forconveying said sheets at a-reduced speed from one to another of saidunits. t Y

5. In a printing machine, the combination witha plurality oftprintingunits arranged at substantially difierent levels, of means for feedingsheetsthrough each unit at relatively high speedrin ahorizontaldirection,

{and a conveyer for moving'said sheets in a vertical dlleCtlDIl and insuperposed ,rel'afion at reduced Speed m one to another ofls IlltSi." m

6. In a printing machine, thecombination with a pluralityof printingunits, of means for feeding she'etsthrough said units at rela- 1 tively.high speed, and means for receiving and conveying said sheets insuperposed relationship and at a reduced speed from one to another ofsaid printing ,units, said last named means comprising a plurality ofrotating elements having threaded portionsarranged to engage the edgesof the sheets.

. 7 In a printing machine, the combination witha plurality of printingunits arranged at substantially different levels, of means for feedingsheets through each unit at relatively 'high speed in a horizontaldirection, and a.

conveyer for moving said sheetsin a vertical direction and insuperposedrelation at re duced speed from one to another of said units,

said. conveyer comprising a plurality of rotating elements havinghelical sheet engaging portions thereon.

8. In a printing machine, the combination with a plurality of printingunits arranged '4 7' met rs at substantially difierentlevels,ofjmeanjs'for feeding sheets through each unit at relatiye- I I 1 1yhigh speed in a horizontal direction, and

- a conveyer formoving' saidsheets in a ver'vq ticaldirection andinsuperposed relation at reduced speed from one to another of saidunits, said conveyer' comprising a plurality of rotating elements havinghelical sheet en gaging portions thereon, theinitial'turns of" pm eachhelix being of. steeper pitchflthan the succeeding turns to affordclearance between u successive sheets onfdeliyery t the convefyerl 9';In a printing machine, the combination a with apluralityofp'rintingunits of means for feeding sheets in line through saidunitsat'relatively high speed, acarrier' for-moving said sheetsin superposedrelation .at reduced speed between said'units and intermittentlyoperated means for positioning said sheets on said carrier.

10. In a printing machine, thecombjination with a plurality of printingunits, of -means for feeding sheets in line through said unitsat'relatively high speed, a carrier for moying said sheets in superposedrelation at 7 reduced speed between'said units and means .fo'rremovingthe sheets from the carrier and delivering the same to the succeedingprintingunit at" definite intervals, said last named means including acontinuous conveyer for initiating'movement' of the sheets, and areciprocating pusher operating intimed'relation with saidjprinting unitafter movement is initiated.- 5 F 11. In a printing machine, thecom-binaj tion with a plurality; of printing units, of e means forfeeding sheets through saidunits i at 1 relativelyhigh'speed, andcontinuously V movlng means for engaging and moving said 1 sheets at areduced speed from one of said 7 I units to another. 7 i V In testimonywhereof I hereunto aflixmy signature; 1 r v I WALTER EVERETT MOLINS. V

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